Love for Bruce Banner
by Agent Liz Mason
Summary: A series of one-shots featuring Bruce Banner. Each one-shot will have a different pairing, although there may be duplicates.
1. Stanner

I love Bruce Banner with a passion, so I decided to do a little series of one-shots, all pairing Bruce with a different person. None of the one-shots will be connected in any way. At the top of each, I will label it with one of its shipping names (or a name I find appropriate, if I can't find a shipping name for the pairing), followed by the characters involved in said pairing in parentheses.

Stanner (TonyXBruce)

Bruce had fully expected to leave as soon as the Avengers no longer needed him to fight Loki (well, first he had expected to leave after the Tesseract had been tracked down). But somehow or other, Tony had managed to convince him to come to Stark Tower (as a _visit_, he'd claimed), and suddenly Bruce was staying in New York.

He wasn't honestly sure how it had happened. Under normal circumstances, he'd be gone by now, fleeing back to some obscure third-world country. But, Bruce figured, normal circumstances didn't usually include Tony Stark.

Working in the labs with Tony was one of the few things Bruce actually enjoyed about being at Stark Tower. This list was very, very short, with protection from the military not even making the top three. Those slots all were filled by Tony, which worried Bruce. He knew full well what Tony was like, and as far as Tony was concerned, Bruce was someone who could speak genius with him in the lab, and nothing else.

The opinion was not mutual. Bruce would absolutely love to be able to call Tony his boyfriend, which was something he denied even to himself, because that was not how this type is friendship worked. Bruce enjoyed all the time he got to spend alone with Tony, working on various science projects, and he was not going to screw that up because of a crush. Or, at least, that's what he told himself.

Pepper, surprisingly, had served as the sort of counseling Bruce had always suspected he needed. Sometimes, when he was feeling seriously down on himself (and those days happened more often than he'd like to admit), he'd just sit in her office, enjoying the peace and quiet, until Pepper had a break, during which she would talk to Bruce (unnecessarily) about what was bothering him on that particular day. This covered a wide variety of topics, and since Pepper was one of the few people who didn't freak out when he mentioned the Hulk, several of them had to do with his alter-ego, and how Bruce felt about him and what he did. Pepper was surprisingly good at helping him through these kinds of things.

Several of their other conversations had to do with Tony. According to Pepper, she couldn't believe that no one else had noticed Bruce's infatuation with the billionaire (Bruce had blushed at her wording). She told him point blank that as one of Tony's exes, she was going to naturally be a little bias against the man, but Bruce could still talk to her about it if he wanted to. Bruce wasn't sure if he really did want to, or if Pepper was doing some sort of subconscious mind trick on him, because Tony came up often anyway.

On one particularly bad day, Bruce had slipped into her office and half-curled up on the couch, running his fingers through his hair in agitation. Pepper had taken one look at him, gotten up from her computer, and came over to sit next to him, "you okay?"

"Not really," Bruce mumbled before pointing out, "you should be working."

"I think it can wait for a few minutes," Pepper said in her 'tell me or face my wrath' tone; the one that even the other guy would have backed down from.

Bruce sighed, before groaning in annoyance, "I'm sick of it. I'm sick of dancing around this subject with Tony. I'm sick of being afraid of how he'll react if I tell him how I feel about him."

Pepper gave him a long, calculating look, "then why _don't_ you tell him? I hate seeing you so upset over this."

"You don't have to, you know. You could always kick me out of your office and not have to deal with me anymore," Bruce told her.

"You didn't answer me," Pepper said, "I know you like Tony, and maybe I didn't do well with him, but you very well might. But you won't even try, and it's ridiculous."

"Ridiculous?" Bruce asked, expecting his temper to flare up. It didn't, probably because, even if he wouldn't admit it, Pepper was right. He was being ridiculous.

"Yes, ridiculous," Pepper told him, "Bruce, sweetie, if you aren't going to tell him how you feel about him, then I will. I know for a fact that you've spent more than half your life blocking out other people. You need to stop it."

Bruce sighed, "You're right."

"Of course I'm right," Pepper grinned, "I'm always right." She put a hand on his shoulder, "now go and talk to him, or I'm making a phone call right now."

"Okay, okay!" Bruce raised his hands in a gesture of surrender as he stood, walking backwards out of the room, "thanks, Pepper."

She just waved at him, going back over to her computer. Bruce was nervous enough about confronting Tony, so he was almost relieved when the "assemble" alarm rang out. He hurried to meet up with the others, wondering what sort of mission they would be going on this time.

The fighting was horrible. Bruce didn't need to see through the other guy's eyes to know that. He kept tabs during the battle, making sure everyone was okay while his alter-ego smashed through lines of enemies.

But when the battle was over, and Bruce shrank back down to himself, he was surprised to find that he felt…not sleepy or in pain, like he usually did after a transformation. He just felt sort of numb. And that wasn't good.

Bruce could see his vision blurring, and then there was just blackness. When his eyes finally opened again, the only thing he could make out was the ceiling of the infirmary, which he was only able to recognize because of how much time he spent there, usually following a Hulk out, although never like this.

Bruce groaned, his head throbbing. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn't cooperate. Sighing, he turned his head, his eyes flicking over the monitors he was hooked up to. That worried him, but not nearly as much as it should have. Since his head seemed to be the only part of his body responding, he lifted his head to glance around the room.

Pepper was sitting in a chair at the end of his bed, slouched, with her head and arms resting next to his currently immobile body, evidently asleep. "Pepper?" Bruce asked softly, and the redhead looked up, blinking her eyes sleepily.

Then they widened, "Bruce! You're awake!" She stood up, coming over and hugging him, "we've all been worried sick about you."

"Why?" Bruce asked, confused, "how long have I been out?"

"You were in a coma for almost a week," Pepper told him. Bruce went rigid with shock (well, his mind did, his body already was) as she continued, "everyone was worried you wouldn't wake up. They've all been in and out of here."

That was comforting, the fact that the team cared enough about him to worry about him dying. "Does anyone know what happened?" he asked, "I mean, why I was in a coma?"

Pepper bit her lip, "we're not sure. It might have had something to do with the battle, but I personally think it's because of stress. That _can_ happen, you know."

Bruce was about to answer when a voice in the doorway interrupted him, "JARVIS told me he's awake."

Bruce's heart missed a beat. From what he could see, Tony was standing there, looking like he had just woken up. Pepper backed away from the hospital bed, winking discretely at Bruce as she left the room, leaving him to do his best to keep the blush from spreading across his cheeks. "Hey," he muttered, for lack of anything better to say.

Tony pulled the chair Pepper had been sleeping in closer to the head of the bed, "you feeling better?"

"No," Bruce answered truthfully, "I think I liked the numbness better."

Tony stifled a chuckle, "did you really do this just to get out of lab duty with me? I thought we were science bros!"

Bruce felt a smile spread across his face as he teased, "desperate times call for desperate measures."

Tony sobered up a little, "I was scared. I thought…I thought that you might not make it, which, of course, reminded me of when you admitted that you'd tried to kill yourself before. I kept thinking of everything I would have wanted to say to you, what we could have done, that it wasn't fair that you were being taken away from me." Bruce liked the way that sounded (sort of), but he was also acutely aware that Tony didn't show his feelings very often. Finally, Tony admitted, "Pepper came to talk to me yesterday. The doctors were pretty sure that you weren't going to make it. She said that in case you didn't, she wanted to tell me something that you were supposed to."

Bruce's heart nearly did stop this time, but he couldn't find it in himself to be mad at Pepper, "and?" He struggled to keep emotion out of his voice, but didn't really succeed in banishing the hope.

Tony looked away, "she told me about how you kept coming to her with your problems. And about how I was one of them." Now his eyes met Bruce's again, "why didn't you just tell me?"

"I didn't want you to react badly," Bruce admitted, "your friendship means more to me than anything. I didn't want to lose that."

"You can be so stupid sometimes," Tony mumbled. Then the billionaire leaned over and pressed his lips firmly against Bruce's.


	2. Gammafrost

I've been playing around in my mind with the logistics of this pairing, and a full story about them is in progress right now and will eventually be up, but I decided to mess around with them a little. This also has slight mentions of Stony in it.

Gammafrost (LokiXBruce)

It wasn't every day that Bruce got a visit from Asguardians in his lab. Thor stopped by every once in a while, but mostly he avoided the labs, which was probably a good thing, because Thor in a lab was like a bull in a china shop. Once, one of Thor's friends from Asguard (Sif, Bruce was pretty sure her name was) had come to "Midguard" and had checked out the lab while Bruce was working in it. But other than that, the only supposedly divine being who entered his lab was Steve (the divine being part was in Tony's words, not Bruce's, on a night when Tony had been particularly drunk).

So Bruce was unprepared for the gust of…well, he certainly couldn't call it wind, but it felt like it, sweeping into the lab and blowing his notes across the table. It wasn't unfamiliar at all; in fact it was probably an everyday experience at this point, but it had never happened in his lab before.

"Loki," he said softly, not turning around, "why are you here?"

There was a laugh, "you'd think you weren't happy to see me."

Bruce turned to look at the demigod, "but you know better." He smiled, "but the question still stands. You've never been anywhere near my lab before. Why now?"

"I missed you," Loki looked adorable when he blushed, his pale skin turning a bright red that disappeared into the collar of his shirt.

"Someone's getting needy," Bruce gave a short chuckle.

"You should be flattered," Loki told him. Then he closed the distance between the two of them and kissed Bruce.

Bruce pulled away quickly, "Loki. What did I say about that?"

Loki pouted, reminding Bruce of Tony when someone took away his drink, "only in your apartment." He gave Bruce puppy-dog eyes.

"Don't look at me like that," Bruce groaned, "you know what the others will do if they find out."

"Maybe I don't care." The way Loki said it, so flippantly, made Bruce's heart ache just a little bit.

"Well, I do," Bruce murmured, "they're my teammates. I don't want to lose their trust." He hated telling Loki that, and he had to do it again and again. Because Loki was more and more insistent every time Bruce saw him. And if Loki wasn't being honest for once in his very long life, then Bruce didn't turn into an enormous, green rage-monster.

"I don't think you would lose their trust," Loki pointed out, "more likely, they would think I was manipulating you."

Well, that certainly ticked Bruce off (not enough to trigger the change into the other guy, but enough to make him stir in the back of Bruce's mind. When he realized it was just Loki, he settled back down). Bruce tugged Loki forward, and this time it was him that initiated the kiss. When they broke apart, this time for air, Bruce said in a very low voice, "If you're manipulating me, Niflheim will look like a treat compared to what he'll do."

"You've been studying your mythology," Loki praised, before adding, "and please, I thought you had a little more faith in me than that." He ran his fingers through Bruce's hair, something Bruce had discovered that Loki loved doing, "you know that I love you."

"I love you too," Bruce said softly, and for once in his life he meant it. And that kind of scared him, since the object of his affections was a formerly evil demigod brother of one of his teammates.

"I'll let you get back to your work," Loki murmured, glancing at the papers in disarray on the lab table, "see you later?"

Bruce nodded, "of course." He kissed Loki one more time, and then the demigod disappeared from his lab.

Walking into his apartment (supplied by Tony, who had given one to each of the Avengers while Stark Tower was being repaired), Bruce was greeted with the smell of food cooking. He smiled slightly before entering the kitchen, "well, this is a surprise." It wasn't, really; Loki often cooked dinner for Bruce. He had no idea why, but he enjoyed it immensely, and Loki was a terrific cook.

Loki gave him a little grin. "We're in your apartment now," he reminded Bruce, "and I think I've been pretty patient. You spend more time with science than you do with me."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "You can be such a little drama queen," he informed the demigod, before pulling him into a kiss.

Loki smiled against Bruce's lips, then pulled away, "stop distracting me, or I'll burn dinner."

Bruce scoffed, "you asked for it." But he couldn't help the loopy smile that spread across his face. Geez, he really was head over heels for Loki.

"Indeed I did," Loki murmured.

It wasn't until dinner was on the table and they were eating that Bruce voiced what he'd been thinking about since Loki's visit earlier, "I'd like to tell them."

Loki stared, confusion evident on his face, "what?"

Bruce flushed slightly, "I'd like to tell the Avengers. About us."

Loki raised an eyebrow, "why the change of heart? I thought you didn't want to lose the team's trust."

"And I don't," Bruce admitted, "but I love you, and I'm not ashamed of it." It still felt weird, voicing it aloud. He continued, "I guess I just don't want to hide anymore."

"I like it when you don't hide," Loki said approvingly, "you're too cute to be hiding."

The slight blush Bruce had been sporting became more pronounced. "Um, thank you?" he managed.

Loki grinned, leaning over and kissing him again, "you're welcome." Then, looking more serious, he added, "Exactly how are you planning to tell them?"

Bruce bit his lip nervously, running his hand through his hair, "Tony's throwing a birthday party for himself, and all of the Avengers are required to bring a date, according to him."

Loki raised an eyebrow, "he expects you all to have dates?"

Bruce shrugged, "well, Thor has Jane, Clint and Natasha have each other, they may not know it, but I have you." He glanced at Loki affectionately, "really, he and Steve are the only single ones."

"I thought Tony was with Pepper," Loki said.

"He was," Bruce told him, "but she left him a few weeks ago. Something about not being able to take his self-destructive tendencies anymore, and how she wasn't going to let him pull her down with him. But honestly, if Tony gets drunk enough, he'll probably end up leaving the party with a date, and Tony always seems to get drunk enough for the whole team."

At Loki's curious look (not at the drinking part, but the other part of his comment) Bruce explained, "Tony has this thing for Steve, and I'm pretty sure everyone knows it. Well, everyone except for Steve."

Loki gave a little nod, "I see." Then he asked, "So, I am to be your date for this party, yes?"

"Yes," Bruce nodded, "that's the plan."

Bruce fidgeted with the sleeve of his suit. Formal wear was not something he was used to. Loki, of course, looked extremely at ease, much more accustomed to this type of event, although admittedly not exactly this type of dress. He looked every bit royal, while Bruce felt like a kid pretending to be his father (not that Bruce had ever pretended to be his father; had he been religious, he would have prayed that he was nothing like the man).

Loki's hand covered his own, "I do wish you would stop that. You're making me nervous."

Bruce gave a slight laugh, "well, that makes two of us, doesn't it?"

"This was your idea," Loki reminded him patiently.

Bruce sighed, rubbing his forehead, "I know. I'm honestly worried Thor will tackle you the moment we walk in."

"Well, then I suppose we should go in and get it over with," Loki's voice was smooth and calm, just like it always was.

"I guess you're right," Bruce muttered. He took Loki's hand, lacing their fingers together. Loki gave his hand a gentle squeeze, reassuring him. Bruce took a deep breath, steeling himself, and then pushed open the door.

It was fairly small, considering Tony was the one throwing the party. There was next to nobody there that Bruce didn't know. The lights were low enough that Bruce had trouble seeing, and nearly tripped a few times as he made his way across the floor to where the Avengers were gathered. Loki followed, not quite behind him, but not quite next to him.

When he finally stopped next to his teammates, he confirmed that Clint and Natasha had come together, and the Thor had brought Jane with him. Tony was engaged in an argument with Steve for not bringing a date, apparently already at least a little drunk. Steve was countering his argument with the fact that Tony was here without a date as well.

Bruce cleared his throat nervously, and Tony looked away from Steve, "science bro! You are officially fashionably late. I'm teaching you so well."

Steve rolled his eyes. Bruce was a little surprised to realize no one had noticed Loki yet, until he realized the lighting was making it difficult for any of them to get a good look at his face.

Tony glanced at Loki, "you brought a date, Brucey. And here I was thinking I'd have to put you in time out with Steve."

"Are you alright, Dr. Banner?" Steve asked, more polite than Tony, noticing the scientist's tension.

"I'm fine," Bruce murmured.

"Are you going to introduce him or not?" Tony demanded, impatient as always.

Bruce winced slightly, "you guys already know him." This was met with glances at each other, everyone racking their brains to figure out who it could be.

Thor, of course, figured it out first, "I did not know you had a taste for men, brother."

"There is a lot you don't know about me," Loki said coolly, but he did not correct Thor for his use of the word 'brother', which Bruce was immensely proud of him for. The relationship between the two siblings was still rocky at best.

"_Loki_?" Clint asked, incredulous, "I thought he was still on Asguard, doing time or something."

"I have served my sentence," Loki said simply, although Bruce noticed that the demigod's grip on his hand tightened.

It hadn't seemed to register with any of them, with the exception of Thor, that Loki was there _with_ Bruce. They were still hung up on the fact that he was there at all.

"Bruce, when I said you could bring a date, I didn't mean pick up a random psychopath and invite him along," Tony said dryly.

Bruce turned bright red, almost unnoticeable under the lights, "I did what you asked. I brought a date."

_Now_ they got it. Ironically, Clint's reaction was, "wait, you're gay?", as if he hadn't been made aware of this fact.

Tony looked very similar to how Bruce suspected he looked when he Hulked out, "Bruce. Please tell me that you aren't dating the god of mischief."

"Well," Bruce murmured, "what's your definition of dating? Because we've never really been on an official date."

"Oh my god," Tony groaned, "you are dating him!"

"I think it is good my brother has found someone to be with," Thor offered, "and Dr. Banner has seemed much more relaxed as of late."

"Thor, I know you want to believe that Loki's different," Steve tried, "but we can't argue with the fact that he's tried to take over our world. We can't trust him."

Bruce let out a low growl, which surprised everyone, including himself. When the attention swung to him, however, instead of shying away like he usually did, Bruce said, "Loki _is_ different. I don't care what you think. And more importantly, he's mine, not the other way around."

Loki gave a nod of conformation. With a slight smile, he added, "the good doctor appears to have operated on me, for he has taken my heart."

It was so absolutely corny that Bruce had to laugh, if only a little. He wasn't surprised that Thor did as well. What did surprise him was that Clint joined in. When Tony turned to glare at Clint, he just shrugged, "what? It was funny."

Steve shook his head, "I just don't see how I can believe that this isn't some kind of trick. Loki made it clear he was interested in the Hulk. I can't help thinking that maybe this is a play to put Dr. Banner on his side."

Well, that did it. Bruce, who was very pacifistic and never even argued with someone if he could avoid it, dropped Loki's hand, drew back and punched Steve as hard as he could. The blow probably wouldn't even leave a bruise, but it knocked the soldier back. Everyone was staring in shook, frozen, so no one stopped Bruce as he advanced on his teammate, seething. His eyes were half green, and the expression of anger on his face was more at home on that of his alter ego.

"Listen to me very carefully, Steve," Bruce said in a quiet, menacing voice, "I love Loki, and that has nothing to do with mind control, or some kind of tactic to turn me against the Avengers. I love him because he understands how it feels to be a monster, and he helped me get past seeing myself as that. I love him because he got crushed by the Hulk and still won't tiptoe around me, afraid to set me off. I love him because he likes to check on me after battles, to make sure I'm safe. And more than that, I love him because he loves me back."

There was silence, the only sounds coming from the party around them. Bruce had to struggle to push the Hulk back into his mind, because he really did not want to lose control here. Steve was still leaning heavily on the wall, looking slightly panic stricken. Sometime during his little rant, Loki had placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder, trying to reassure him. Bruce leaned back into the touch, waiting for someone to react.

Then there was clapping from one surprisingly enthusiastic billionaire. "Wasn't that something," Tony was grinning, "I have never seen someone piss Bruce off so thoroughly. And since he hangs out with me on a regular basis, that's saying something." Tony threw an arm around Steve's shoulders, "you, Capsicle, can officially join my list of awesome people."

Bruce gave a little sigh of relief. Loki chuckled in his ear, the hand he had placed on Bruce's shoulder now rubbing little circles to ease his tension. Tony turned to the two of them, but addressed Loki, "if he's willing to punch someone for you, then I'd say you're worthy. You have my blessing."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "And mine as well," Thor added in.

Loki sounded like he was about to retort, but instead he said softly, "thank you, brother. It means a lot, truly."

"Okay, we can party now, right?" Clint asked.

"Yes," Tony agreed, "we can definitely party now."

Bruce let out a little groan as he woke up, stretching and rolling over. Loki gave a little whine of complaint, snuggling back up against Bruce.

"See, last night wasn't so bad," Loki murmured into Bruce's back.

"No it wasn't," Bruce agreed, rolling back over and giving his lover a kiss.


	3. Hulkeye

This one's a lot shorter. It also talks about suicide, just warning you. I wasn't quite sure how to write this pairing, and I personally think it came out terrible. Please don't kill me.

Hulkeye (ClintXBruce)

How it kept coming down to this, Bruce didn't know. He'd felt so good about himself because of the Avengers. He was helping people. He wasn't the monster he thought he was. For once in his life, he felt like he belonged somewhere other than a maximum security vault. Clint especially helped with that, loving both him and his alter ego, and Bruce loved him back.

So why did it always come back to this? This was the third time this week alone. The third time he'd pulled the gun out of its hiding place in the special Hulk room Tony had designed in the Tower's basement. The third time he'd sat there with it in his hand and thought about pulling the trigger. Why he wanted to, he didn't know. He was happy, and he could no longer use the Hulk as an excuse for wanting to end it all.

Bruce's thumb swept over the barrel, his lips pressed into a thin line. He shouldn't be depressed. He had everything he wanted, which was precisely why he was.

It all felt like a dream to him. The sooner he accepted it, the sooner it would be over. He wouldn't have to worry about it being taken away from him, like it surely would be. He had done so much in the past that nothing he did now would make up for that.

The door slid open, and Bruce looked up to see Clint looking furious. "I-I can explain," he stuttered out.

Clint didn't say anything at first, just stormed over to him and ripped the gun out of his hands, skillfully unloading it almost faster than Bruce could blink and throwing it across the room. Bruce had never seen the archer this angry before, and it scared him. "Clint," he said softly.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" Clint burst out, "why, Bruce? I thought you were past this. I thought we were okay."

That 'we' sent Bruce over the edge. He burst into tears, but his sobs were silent. He'd had enough practice with that in his childhood that it was natural now.

Clint blinked, and then sat down next to him, joining him on the floor. He wrapped his arms around Bruce, shifting their position just slightly so that Bruce's cheek rested on his shoulder. His fingers stroked rhythmically through Bruce's hair, calming him slightly. When the tears finally started to slow, Bruce choked out, "I'm sorry."

"I know you are," Clint murmured, "I know. And I'm sorry I yelled. But please, Bruce, you need to tell me what's going on." His voice was just a tiny bit desperate.

Bruce hung his head, "I can't let you be taken from me."

Clint stared at him in confusion, "no one's going to take me. Why would you think that?"

"I love you," Bruce said softly, "and everything I love gets taken from me."

"Oh," Clint suddenly understood what he was talking about, "this is because of your belief in karma, isn't it?"

Bruce didn't answer, burying his face in Clint's shoulder. "Bruce, I think you're being selfish," Clint muttered, his fingers still moving through Bruce's curls, "if you're trying to kill yourself, you've the one who's being taken from _me_. I've come so close to losing Natasha on missions. I'm not losing you to yourself."

"I'm sorry," Bruce said again, feeling immensely guilty, "I didn't think-"

"Well, that's kind of obvious," Clint told him, hugging him tighter, "for a genius, you have quite a few lapses of judgment." Bruce didn't respond to that, and Clint whispered, "come to me next time, okay? I don't want you to put a bullet through your head, even if it won't do anything to you. Promise me, okay?"

"I promise," Bruce said softly, "I just…I just don't want to wake up and realize that I don't have this anymore."

"That's not happening," Clint said firmly, "stop being delusional. It doesn't suit you at all."

Bruce couldn't help it; he giggled a little. "Okay," he agreed, "I'll do my best."

Clint pressed a kiss to the top of Bruce's head, "good."


	4. Dr Pepper

Dr. Pepper (BruceXPepper)

Bruce was well and truly lost. Not in the metaphorical sense, as he so often was, but literally lost. Tony's house was huge. He'd invited Bruce to come back with him after the Avenger thing had blown over, mostly because Stark Tower was still under construction. Bruce had taken him up on it, if only because where there was Tony, there was science that didn't involve him being strapped to an operating table, although, if he was being honest with himself, it was also because he could really use a friend.

But Tony, while giving Bruce the tour, had somehow managed to slip off, leaving Bruce to fend for himself in a very high-tech, very exquisite house that may as well have been called a mansion. Bruce didn't know if he should have been amazed that Tony trusted him enough to leave him alone, or annoyed that Tony had left him alone. Tony was just one of those people.

Bruce noticed one of those panels on the wall, sort of black in color, but with designs on them, making it clear that it was a piece of technology, and not just a wall decoration. Hesitantly, Bruce touched it with one finger.

"You are not authorized to access this area," a smooth British voice that Bruce took to be JARVIS, said immediately.

"Don't mind JARVIS," a female voice came from behind Bruce. He turned to see a woman, her hair somewhere between strawberry-blond and red, smiling at him apologetically. "Tony hasn't gotten around to reprograming him so you can access his lab yet," she continued.

Bruce bit his lip, one hand automatically reaching up to run through his curls, "you're Pepper Potts, right? Tony mentioned you."

She nodded, "that's right. Although I must say, I'm flattered that he stopped with his science long enough to actually acknowledge that I exist."

She seemed pleasant, but that meant nothing as far as Bruce was concerned. He swallowed nervously, "and you know who I am?"

Again, Pepper nodded, "you're Dr. Bruce Banner, of course. Tony told me you'd be staying with us for a while. I think he said something about finally finding someone who wasn't an unintelligent idiot?" Her smile was still in place, and even from across the room, Bruce could see her eyes sparkling.

Bruce rubbed the back of his neck, before saying, "that's not really what I meant."

Understanding flickered across her face, "oh. Yes, I am aware that you're the Hulk. However, I'm also aware that you saved Tony's life. I can't help thinking that we owe you a lot more than just a stay at our house."

Bruce couldn't help noticing the casual use of plural possession, "Are you Tony's girlfriend?"

Pepper laughed, as if his question wasn't serious, "I don't think Tony's capable of loving someone more than himself. We tried, but we didn't really work out. But I'm still his closest friend, and pretty much his only non-robotic friend, with the exception of you."

"Oh…" Bruce felt awkward. He wasn't usually good in situations involving other people, "I didn't mean to pry."

Pepper waved it off, "it's not a big deal."

That was when Tony made his reentrance. He grinned at Bruce, "I see you've met my lovely assistant." He wagged a finger, "next time, don't wander off, okay big guy?"

"I didn't wander off!" Bruce defended softly, "you ditched me." He flinched at the way his voice sounded.

Tony, being Tony, caught it. "Someone's getting needy," he teased Bruce.

Bruce turned a rather unmanly shade of pink, "I didn't- I don't-"

"Lay off him, Tony," Pepper came to his rescue, "when someone gives you a tour of their house, they generally don't expect to be left alone."

"It's fine," Bruce assured her, still blushing, "but thanks." It was nice to have someone stick up for him once in a while. It didn't happen all that often.

Tony rolled his eyes, but finished the tour without running away from Bruce again. Pepper left, saying something about having a company to run, but Bruce's thoughts strayed back to the redhead (although he wasn't sure he could call her that, having seen Natasha's flame colored hair).

He didn't even realize he'd been zoning out until fingers were snapped in his face. "Earth to Banner," Tony said, "you still with me?"

"Sorry, what?" Bruce asked, blushing slightly. He wondered if this was going to become a habit when he stayed with the engineer.

Tony didn't look upset, which was good. "You keep spacing out on me," he complained, "what could you be thinking about that is so much more entertaining than my awesomeness?"

"Um," Bruce stammered. Telling his only friend that he was thinking about said friend's ex-girlfriend was not very high at all on the list of things Bruce wanted to do.

"I don't usually make people speechless," Tony teased, "come on, big guy, spit it out. What's bugging you?"

Bruce debated for one more second, and then sighed. "Pepper," he said honestly, "she's…she's interesting."

"That she is," Tony agreed. Then he frowned, noticing Bruce's blush, "wait. You like her, don't you?"

Damn it, why did he have to blush this much? It was embarrassing. "I don't know," he said softly, "she's not scared of me. I guess I like her for that."

"No, I mean you _like her_ like her," Tony said impatiently. What was he, in third grade?

Bruce stared at him, eyes huge, "how could I possibly be interested in her like that? I only just met her."

"So?"

"So I don't make decisions about possible relationships with people when I first met them," Bruce said. Catching Tony's look, he added, "That goes for _all_ types of relationships, Tony."

Tony shook his head, "geez, Bruce. If you're interested in something, you should take it. It's not rocket science."

"I'm not you," Bruce almost, _almost_, snapped back, "I don't want to put people at risk. And that's exactly what I do when I get close to anyone."

"You didn't have a problem with me," Tony pointed out.

"You have an Iron Man suit and a team of Avengers backing you up. It's different."

"Hey, the Hulk caught me, remember? I think he likes me. Therefore, he's capable of something other than smashing, especially when it involves someone you like. Which means it shouldn't be a problem," Tony concluded triumphantly.

"That is flawed logic," Bruce argued right back, "I don't have anything against Thor, and the other guy still beats up on him."

"Thor can take it," Tony waved off Bruce's concern.

"But not everyone can," Bruce was getting frustrated. Was Tony so stubborn that he couldn't see the safety risks? Or did he just not care if his ex got killed by the Hulk?

Tony huffed, "you're missing the point. You have better control now. You can't base everything you do off of things the happened a long time ago."

"Ten years, Tony. Relatively speaking, ten years is not that long ago."

"In relation to what?" Tony asked, incredulous, "if you ask me, _last week _is a long time ago."

Bruce shook his head, "just drop it, okay?"

And surprisingly, Tony did.

Bruce had settled into a routine at Tony's place fairly quickly. He was often the first one up, so he'd meditate for a while or do yoga(something he was determined to keep Tony from finding out about, but which Tony probably would find out sooner or later), then make breakfast and go to the lab. Tony wandered in after that, usually with coffee that Bruce refused to drink. They spent most of the day in the lab, and only came out when it was time for dinner. This way, Bruce usually only saw Pepper for an hour every day.

Why she still lived there, Bruce wasn't sure, although it could have something to do with the fact that Tony couldn't do anything food related other than brewing coffee and using a microwave without utterly destroying whatever he was making.

It wasn't until a day that Tony was away on business did Pepper venture down to the lab while he was working.

He had been looking over a set of notes regarding the newest aspect of Tony's suit when he had heard someone unlock the door. Without Tony's music, every sound in the lab seemed amplified tenfold.

"You're back early," he said, not looking up. He figured Tony had gotten bored and returned before he had been expected to.

"I never left," that wasn't Tony's voice. Bruce looked up immediately, shocked to see Pepper standing in the doorway. "Can I come in?"

Bruce shrugged, surprised he could react that much, "uh, sure. It's not my lab. It's Tony's."

Pepper laughed, striding though the door, "if you still think that, you haven't been paying enough attention to Tony. It's just as much yours as it is his, in his eyes."

Bruce wasn't sure how to respond to that. Instead, he just said, "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you. I'm allowed to do that, right?" Pepper smiled.

"Um, yeah," he answered, not making eye contact, "what about?"

"You know I'm not going to bite. Tony's okay with you talking to me."

"I know," Bruce murmured.

Pepper gave another little laugh, "you're adorable, you know that? Bruce, you don't need to be scared. I'm not afraid of you."

"I know. But you should be."

"I'm not. And I never will be. So you should get over yourself." Pepper took a step closer, "think about it?"

"Sure," Bruce muttered. Pepper turned to go, but Bruce reached out and gripped her wrist, "I've thought about it. I'll give it a try, okay?"

"That's all I'm asking."


End file.
